All the News That’s Fit To Sing

There’s a war on for your mind, it’s right there on your screen
Watch the pundits ramble on, define the terms and set the scene
Hear the pundits say this is the best that it can get
There may be room for improvement, just stay tuned in to your set
Just stay tuned in to your set, they’ll tell you all you need to know
If it’s anything important they say they’ll have it on the show

There’s a war on for the planet, there’s a war on for your mind
The outcome of the struggle is the fate of humankind
You can drink the Kool-aid, buy the goods that you are sold
Watch the talking heads, think the way that you are told
Think the way they tell you, hold fast to the lies
Or stick your finger in the wind and trust your ears and eyes

Turn off your TV or you won’t learn a thing
Gather round, I’ll give you all the news that’s fit to sing

Some democracies are tyrannies, you can hear them say
While some dictatorships are friendly, they’ll tell us every day
If your passion is pro baseball you can surely get the score
But if you want to know what’s happening, walk outside your door
See the oil train exploding, see the black smoke in the sky
See the kids under the bridge, see the limo passing by

Chorus

It’s a question for the moment, a question for the ages
For the businessmen and prisoners rattling their cages
For the businessmen and prisoners, be they lost or found
Upon the rising oceans or cracked dry desert ground
It’s a choice that we’re all faced with, or so it seems to me
I don’t have all the answers but I can guarantee

“All the News That’s Fit to Sing” is the title track of the 2014 online album. It occurred to me one day that Phil Ochs’ first album, also called All the News That’s Fit to Sing, never exactly had a title track. I mean lots of the songs were certainly songs about the news, whether fit to sing or not. But he hadn’t, as far as I know, written any songs actually about that idea. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe it was too obvious. But I thought I’d do it, anyway.